Village Interactive Training and Learning Study

Research Participants take part in a 16 week Wellness Program, which includes either traditional physical exercise with brain training(Group A), Wii exergaming with brain training(Group B) or brain training alone (Group C). Participants are randomly assigned to groups. A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests, surveys and assessments are given prior to start of the intervention, at completion of the 16 weeks, and again 3 months post completion. The program involves 4 days of physical activity each week for groups A \& B. The physical exercise/activity portion will involve warm up stretching and then either Group A-traditional exercise (like riding a stationary recumbent bicycle or walking on a treadmill), Group B- playing Nintendo Wii Exergames with a television based video game, or Group C- NO exercise at all. Every 4th week the 16 week intervention period, all participants in all three groups will also complete 80 minutes of brain training activities each day of the week. This is in addition to the previously assigned physical activity for Groups A \& B. The brain training regimen consists of Posit Science Insight computer based brain games. The Insight program consists of five different modules that focus on visual processing, attention, and memory. Each of the modules are described below: 1. Bird Safari: This module involves identifying and ordering simple visual stimuli that flash on a screen. The goal is to improve ability to respond quickly to visual stimuli and to segment rapidly changing visual pictures. 2. Jewel Diver: This module involves tracking objects as they become hidden by distractors. The goal is to improve ability of visual system to rapidly identify and discriminate objects in the visual periphery. 3. Master Gardener: This module involves visual working memory and matching pairs of pictures. 4. Road Tour: This is a simulated driving exercise that involves divided attention to oncoming cars and road signs. The goal is to improve ability of visual system to continuously track multiple objects against a field of distractors. 5. Sweep Seeker: In this exercise, participants identify complex moving visual stimuli. The goal is to improve rapid, sequential eye movements to salient visual targets, process relevant information and then make rapid decisions to identify, discriminate and classify targets. Questionnaires regarding the participants mood before and after the brain training weekly are administered. In addition, brief questionnaires on attention and memory are given to measure thinking and memory progress.